The Swick and the Dead by Maggie Foster

Author:Maggie Foster
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: murder mystery books, medical murder mystery books, Scottish murder mystery books, women sleuths, Lonach
ISBN: 9780998985831
Publisher: Maggies Mysteries
Published: 2018-12-20T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28

Day 12 – Tuesday morning

Coffee shop

“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me,” Ginny said. “I’m afraid I need your help. It’s about your sister, Lisa.”

Mary Jo Braden nodded, the look on her face suggesting this was not the first time she’d heard something of the sort.

Ginny took a breath and plunged in. “Lisa is under suspicion of murdering someone at work, and I’d like—very much—to be able to change that.”

“I know. She told me.”

“The police have been going over all the available evidence. So far, they can’t eliminate her.”

Mary Jo’s face settled into a grave concern. “Does what I say to you count as evidence?”

“It might. Do you know something that can help us?”

Mary Jo’s face clouded. “Maybe. You may have noticed, Lisa spends a lot of time on how she looks.”

Ginny nodded.

“That includes her nails and she’s always pretty vocal when she breaks one. They cost a lot at the salon where she goes.” Mary Jo was frowning heavily. “She broke one that night, at work.”

Ginny took a careful breath. “Are you sure it was that shift?”

Mary Jo nodded. “She came home Friday morning, after the police let her go, swearing at the nail, saying she’d caught it on something during the Code. She said she had to go have it replaced, and it was going to cost her a fortune, and she was really mad. She wouldn’t have said that if she was guilty, would she? She’d hide it from me, if she tore it while—you know. Right?”

Ginny nodded. “I would think so, yes.” She was thinking it wasn’t proof, but any murderer with half a brain would be worried about leaving evidence at the scene. If Lisa had broken a nail during the struggle with Phyllis, she might have picked it up and put it in her pocket, and, if she was worried Mary Jo might notice, she might have made up a story to cover the missing nail. So not finding the broken nail wouldn’t tell them a thing. It would only be useful if the police had found it.

“Okay. I’ll pass that on. Now can you tell me whether Lisa was mad at anyone in particular?”

“I don’t think so. She doesn’t confide in me. Not much anyway. And she wouldn’t tell me if she’d killed someone. Would she?” Mary Jo’s face paled as she said it, but she didn’t amend her comment.

Ginny shook her head. “I wouldn’t think so, but we’ve heard a rumor Lisa was jealous of the dead woman. Can you shed any light on that?”

Mary Jo’s eyebrows rose. “Why would she be jealous?”

“Because the man she wanted chose the dead woman instead of her.”

“Oh! You mean John Kyle.”

Ginny nodded.

“She was furious about that, for about six months, then she moved on.”

“One of the witnesses reports Lisa made threats.”

“What kind of threats?”

Ginny was deliberately vague. “Ways to get John back.”

Mary Jo shook her head. “She didn’t need to do that. She has someone else.”

“A steady?”

“Yeah. Two years now.”

Ginny blinked. “Do you know who it is?”

“Of course.

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